Accel Entertainment Reports Record Third Quarter Revenue of $364 Million
CHICAGO, Nov. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: ACEL), a leading locals-focused gaming operator partnering with small businesses, local communities, and state governments to provide entertaining, convenient, and safe gaming experiences nationwide, today announced financial and operating results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026.
Third Quarter and Recent Highlights:
Accel CEO Mark Phelan commented, “We delivered another period of double-digit revenue growth in the third quarter, marking another strong quarter with solid profitability. Third-quarter revenue increased 10% year-over-year a third-quarter record $364 million, while third-quarter net income rose 55% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA rose 12% to $57 million, a third quarter record. With the operating leverage inherent in our business model, Adjusted EBITDA again grew faster than revenue, reflecting the quality of our portfolio, disciplined capital deployment and strong execution across our markets.
“Notably, Accel’s core business continues to get stronger while our growth strategy becomes increasingly diversified. In Illinois, excluding Fairmount Park, revenue increased approximately 7% and hold-per-day increased approximately 9%, highlighting the benefits of our strategy to optimize the Illinois portfolio by pruning lower-performing locations and allocating resources toward our strongest opportunities. We also delivered strong third-quarter performances in Georgia, Nebraska and Louisiana, continued expansion in Nevada, and significant momentum at Fairmount Park, where gaming revenue increased approximately 84% year-over-year.
“Accel generates meaningful cash flow and maintains a strong balance sheet, with low leverage and substantial liquidity, which provides us with significant flexibility to invest organically, pursue disciplined acquisitions and return capital to shareholders when we believe doing so represents an effective use of capital. We ended the quarter with $294 million of cash and cash equivalents and net debt of approximately $272 million. We also repurchased approximately 624,000 shares of our common stock for $7.2 million during the third quarter as we believe our shares represent an attractive investment opportunity given our strong and growing fundamentals.
“Finally, we recently completed the build-out of our senior leadership team to execute against the growth opportunities that we see ahead of us, including Chicago, where the rollout has now begun with the receipt of our first licenses, and the continued development of Fairmount. We are very excited about Accel’s future and remain focused on executing initiatives that we believe can enhance long-term shareholder value.”
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Other Data
Net Revenues
Gross Margin Percentage
Key Business Metrics
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Data
Non-GAAP Financial Information
This press release includes certain financial information not prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (“GAAP”). Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted net income, Adjusted earnings per share, Net debt, and Free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures and are key metrics that Accel’s management uses to monitor ongoing core operations. Accel’s management believes these non-GAAP financial measures enhance the understanding of Accel’s underlying drivers of profitability and trends in Accel’s business and facilitate company-to-company and period-to-period comparisons because they exclude the effects of certain non-cash items or nonrecurring items that are unrelated to core operating performance. Accel’s management also believes that these non-GAAP financial measures are used by investors, analysts and other interested parties as measures of Accel’s financial performance and to evaluate Accel’s ability to fund capital expenditures, service debt obligations and meet working capital requirements. The non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP that are also presented in this press release. These measures are not substitutes for their comparable GAAP financial measures and there are limitations to using non-GAAP financial measures. For example, the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this press release may differ from similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures presented by other companies, and other companies may not define these non-GAAP financial measures the same way as Accel does.
Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income plus:
Adjusted net income is defined as net income plus:
Adjusted earnings per share is defined as adjusted net income divided by weighted average diluted shares outstanding.
Free cash flow is defined as Adjusted EBITDA:
Free cash flow is also defined as Net cash provided by operating activities:
Net debt is defined as debt, net of current maturities:
Reconciliation of Net income to Adjusted EBITDA and Free cash flow
Reconciliation of Net cash provided by operating activities to Free cash flow
Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted net income and
Net income per share to Adjusted net income per share
Reconciliation of Debt, net of current maturities to Net debt
Conference Call
Accel will host a conference call and webcast at 4:30 PM ET / 3:30 PM CT today to review the results. To access the call, please use the following link: Accel Entertainment Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. After registering, an email will be sent, including dial-in details and a unique conference call access code required to join the live call. To ensure you are connected prior to the beginning of the call, please register a minimum of 15 minutes before the start of the call.
A simultaneous webcast of the conference call will be available at: Accel Entertainment Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Webcast, or via the Investor Relations page of the Accel Entertainment website at ir.accelentertainment.com. A replay will be available on the Company's Investor Relations website shortly after the event or at Accel Entertainment Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Webcast.
About Accel
Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: ACEL) is a growing provider of locals-focused gaming and one of the largest terminal operators in the United States, supporting nearly 30,000 electronic gaming machines in over 4,700 third-party local and regional establishments and 20 self-operated gaming locations across ten states. Through exclusive long-term contracts, Accel serves licensed non-casino locations, including bars, restaurants, convenience stores, truck stops, gaming cafes, and fraternal and veteran establishments.
Accel provides its local partners with a turnkey, full-service, capital-efficient gaming solution that encompasses manufacturing, content, payments, loyalty, 24/7 customer service, data analysis and reporting, and cash logistics. The Company’s racino, Fairmount Park - Casino & Racing, features live racing, electronic gaming machines, live table games, food and beverage amenities, and pari-mutuel betting.
Contact:
Joseph Jaffoni, Norberto Aja
JCIR
212-835-8500
acel@jcir.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, any statements regarding our ability to invest organically and pursue disciplined acquisitions, estimates of number of electronic gaming machines, locations, revenues, and Adjusted EBITDA, the opportunities in distributed gaming and local entertainment within the broader gaming market, including in the city of Chicago, our ability to expand operations in developing markets, our ability to roll out new technology to enhance player convenience and operational efficiency over time, and our expansion into casino operations and horse racing, including at Fairmount. The words “predict,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “would,” “continue,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our current reasonable beliefs, expectations and assumptions and involve inherent risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: Accel’s ability to operate in existing markets and to expand into new jurisdictions; Accel’s ability to introduce new and appealing products and services amid uncertain market demand and regulatory outcomes; Accel’s ability to maintain or improve its competitive advantages in a highly competitive industry; Accel’s dependence on a concentrated network of key manufacturers, developers and third-party providers for electronic gaming machines, amusement machines, and related software, content and technologies; Accel’s heavy dependency on its ability to win, maintain and renew contracts with location partners; Accel's expansion into casino operations and horse racing; decreased discretionary consumer spending due to broader macroeconomic and socio-political conditions; geographical concentration of Accel’s business, which heightens exposure to local or regional conditions; strict government regulations that are constantly evolving and may be amended, repealed, or subject to new interpretations, which may limit existing operations, have an adverse impact on Accel’s ability to grow or may expose Accel to fines or other penalties; Accel’s dependence on the security, integrity and regulatory compliance of products, services and systems offered, which, if breached or disrupted, could expose Accel to liability, including the physical security of our gaming terminals and cash at third-party locations; Accel’s dependence on the protection of trademarks and other intellectual property; opponents’ efforts to curtail the expansion of legalized gaming; and other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in documents filed or to be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") including those described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (the "Form 10-K").
Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We are under no obligation to, and expressly disclaim any obligation to, publicly update or alter any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Industry and Market Data
Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this press release concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations and market position, market opportunity, and market size, is based on information from various sources, on assumptions that we have made that are based on those data and other similar sources, and on our knowledge of the markets for our services. This information includes a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such information. In addition, projections, assumptions, and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industry in which we operate are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the Form 10-K, as well as Accel's other filings with the SEC. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by third-parties and by us.